New fruitage

New fruitage

I had prayed for a woman in her late thirties as she progressed through nine months of pregnancy. This was her first baby.

She called me the morning that she went into the hospital for delivery. Shortly afterward, I went to the hospital, found a table, and began studying and praying. I studied articles from the periodicals on pregnancy and delivery. The Lesson-Sermon from December 2008, which I had copied, was filled with ideas on pregnancy and delivery. I had my concordance and studied references on birth. Throughout the day, family members from both the mother’s and the father’s side kept me informed of her progress. As far as I knew, all was going well.

When I left the hospital for supper, I kept my phone on, but did not hear that the baby had come. Later that evening, I went back to the hospital. I learned that she had not yet delivered the baby, and if the delivery did not come soon, the doctor would have to operate. Divine Mind revealed to me that hopelessness was the problem. I assured her mother that I would not leave, but would continue to work.

I read the paragraph on obstetrics on page 463 of Science and Health. Mrs. Eddy says, “To attend properly the birth of the new child, or divine idea, you should so detach mortal thought from its material conceptions, that the birth will be natural and safe.” I worked to “detach mortal thought from its material conceptions,” to see that being is entirely spiritual, and that this is the unfoldment of an eternal idea of God. I turned my thought prayerfully to God as I slowly pondered these ideas, and asked God to give me the spiritual enlightenment that I knew accompanied these words when Mrs. Eddy wrote them. Not long afterward, I received the call that the baby had come.

A few days later, I received a phone call from her mother-in-law, who had been with her in the delivery room for the entire day. Her mother-in-law told me how she had been comforted by knowing that I was at the hospital praying. She said that, as a member of the Catholic church, she was a firm believer in the power of prayer, and that she had prayed all through the day and night. We had a sincerely loving conversation, and I thanked her for taking the time to call.